Increasing Tire Size to 15"?

[Lou425]

I own a 2007 Surveyor SV264. It has a dry weight of 4,300 lbs. I bought it new and it came with 5 Goodyear Marathon 14 inch tires. One of those tires had a blowout last summer, and 3 more had blowouts on one weekend a few weeks back! These tires had about 5,000 miles on them, had been kept properly inflated, and passed my visual inspections. I don't know why the blowouts are occurring. My thought to overcome this problem is go to a bigger, stronger tire. Can I go to a 15 inch tire for this trailer? Will 15 inch tires fit on my current axles and hubs/lugnut pattern? Any advice would be appreciated.

[mtnguy]

What is the date stamp on those tires that blew out ?? With a 2007 trailer that could have been manufactured in 2006 with 2005 tires, then those tires could be 6 years old. The life of a trailer tire is usually age, not mileage. 5 years on a trailer tire is probably the most campers should consider.

During a blow-out (or flat), the remaining tire on that side takes all of the weight, and could potentially damage that tire, so that and the age might be the explanation of continued problems.

Are you tires blowing out, or going flat ?? That is hard to tell unless you actually hear the pop. A tire going flat unnoticed on your trailer will rapidly disintegrate, leading a driver to think blow-out when he finally realizes the problem. A TPMS on the trailer tires could alert drivers to a low air situation, and allow time to get off of the road to see what the problem is.

On your SV264, you are probably not close to the maximum tire weights of 1760 lbs. each of 14" tires, unless you are really loading down your camper. But to replace those tires with 15s you would need to do several things:

See if you have plenty of space between the tires for the extra diameter of the 15s.

Measure from the top of the current tires to the upper wheel well. Check your axle manufacturer website to make sure you have enough "bump" space to accommodate the bigger tires. I think Dexter recommends 3", but not sure about Al-Ko.

Make sure you have plenty of space on the inner and outer wheel wells to accommodate the additional sidewall measurement, as well as front and back of the wheel well to accommodate the additional diameter.

If all of the measurements will allow for the 15s, and you buy wheels with the same bolt pattern (probably 4 1/2", 5 bolt) and offset, then new wheels may be in your future.

[acadianbob]

If you check The Tire Rack (oneline) you can look at tires and their specs to see rolling diameter. Our 235 has only 2" between the tires and I think your 264 will be the same. So, that means it is highly unlikely that you can go to a larger diameter tire; in fact, a larger 14" size might not even work. But look at the Kumho Radial 857.

Kumho Radial 857

It is D rated. You would have to go to the 195/80R14 size to keep the same diameter because of the higher tread wall aspect ration. But you increase overall capacity.

BUT, I'm inclined to think something else is going on? You should have plenty of excess capacity with the C rated tires you have.

[Lou425]

Thanks for the prompt response mtnguy. The tires were date stamped 2006. On two of the incidents, I definitely heard a "pop", and pulled over. The other two, I did not hear anything then suddenly I felt the tire go. I pulled over and saw both tires were flat. The treads had pulled away from the tires and damaged the floor of my trailer. In all 4 flats, Goodyear has reimbursed me for the replacement tires and for the trailer damage, but i want to feel safe when I'm pulling two tons behind me! I'll check the physical measurements you refer to. That's exactly what I was wondering about. I am not at all familiar with TPMS.

[Lou425]

good points acadianbob. I wonder too if something else is going on. At 5 years old, maybe they were just at the end of their useful life, like mtnguy suggested. I'm going to check the level of the trailer when it's hitched to my Silverado and make sure one axle is not bearing more weight than the other. I read in another thread that could be a problem. I don't have the weight distribution bars or stabilizer bars on my rig. My trailer dealer advised i was ok as is. Now I wonder...

[mtnguy]

Originally Posted by Lou425

I am not at all familiar with TPMS.

I run this system: PressurePro - Tire Pressure Monitoring System PRODUCTS

16 wheels is overkill for my present camper, but if I even go with a MH with a toad, then I can still use this same system, and but a bunch more sensors.